THE FOREIGNER. 179 



farm workers in England by industry and thrift managed to 

 accumulate sufficient to enable them to take farms on their 

 own account even in the eighteenth century. 



This state of things obviously could not last after it had once 

 begun to break up. As long as all workers were in much the 

 same condition the system remained in vigour, but as soon as 

 the newer system began and men became more and more depend- 

 ent on the services of others, the disintegration became more 

 rapid, and those who lagged behind in the race suffered more 

 and more from the disadvantages of both systems. 



Let us now consider what are the essentials of contract among 

 a free people, and see if we can ascertain how far the English 

 farm worker has succeeded in securing for himself those claims 

 without which his position would inevitably be far worse than 

 that of his ancestors ; and at the same time let us endeavour 

 to ascertain whether the farm workers in other countries have 

 progressed further, or not. The most important, though seldom 

 the first secured, is the free right of combination for collective 

 bargaining. This right, which is the foundation-stone on which 

 all contract rests, was strenuously denied to workers of all classes 

 during the Middle Ages, and though combinations and strikes on 

 modern lines took place in towns, the agricultural workers 

 were forbidden under the severest penalties to form any Unions. 

 The Combination Laws were not repealed till 1825, and even 

 in 1834 the agricultural labourers were liable to charges of con- 

 spiracy if they attempted to form a Union to raise wages. When 

 Arch formed his Union in 1872, the legal rights of combination 

 were secured beyond recall, but then and for many years after- 

 wards the movement was regarded with suspicion and even 

 active opposition by many employers, while even at the present 

 time a breach of the peace in connection with a strike is more 

 severely punished by some magistrates than an assault in a 

 private quarrel. It was not till the passing of the Corn Produc- 

 tion Act of 1917 that the law not only permitted but even 

 expected agricultural labourers to combine for the purpose of 

 representing their common aspirations and claims. On the 

 Continent of Europe the right of combination is now fully recog- 

 nised, but in one country at least it is of recent date. The German 

 Government issued a new code dealing with farm labour on 

 January 29, 1919, which introduced some important changes 

 in the law. In Prussia, under the law of 1854, agricultural 

 labourers were liable to a year's imprisonment if they take 

 concerted action for causing persons in the service of a certain 

 employer or number of employers to go out on strike, or if with 

 a view to obstructing the work of such persons they endeavour 

 to compel either the employers or the authorities to do certain 

 things or to grant certain concessions. By the new decree the 



